Agenda item

To consider the following motions:

 

·  Declaring a Housing Emergency

·  Debate Not Hate

·  Ending the Lower Road Chaos

Motion 1: Declaring a Housing Emergency

 

This motion was considered prior to the guillotine having fallen. 

 

Councillor Victor Chamberlain moved the motion. Councillor Irina Von Wiese seconded the motion.

 

There was one amendment to the motion.  Councillor Esme Hicks moved Amendment B.  Councillor Sam Dalton seconded Amendment B.  After debate (Councillors Ian Wingfield, Sarah King, Graham Neale, Gavin Edwards), Councillor Victor Chamberlain responded to the debate.

 

Amendment B was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

1.  Council Assembly notes:

 

a.  Everyone should have a home they can afford, where they feel comfortable and safe. This is an essential foundation for a good life. Yet across our country we face a housing emergency, with over a quarter of a million people homeless, and one and a half million more living in overcrowded homes. In London alone, 1 in 23 children are living in temporary accommodation, more than one in every classroom.

 

b.  This national emergency is one of the greatest challenges for our community. In Southwark, there are now 3,920 households in our borough living in temporary accommodation, many more living in overcrowded homes and over 17,000 households on our council housing waiting list. This emergency is not new and has been clear to the people of Southwark for well over a decade.

 

2.  Council Assembly further notes:

 

a.  This crisis is not inevitable. The last Labour government halved homelessness (reducing the number of households living in temporary accommodation from 101,300 to 50,400) and reduced rough sleeping by two thirds, whilst also doubling the proportion of social homes that met the decent homes standard.

 

b.  In contrast, under the last fourteen years of Conservative and Liberal Democrat governments, street homelessness has risen by 169% and the number of households living in temporary accommodation is up 260%.  With policies imposed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in government deepening the crisis including their Bedroom Tax; changing the national definition of an affordable home to include homes at rents that are unaffordable to people on even average incomes; reducing the Affordable Housing Grant by 60 per cent in 2010; increasing the Right to Buy Discount so thousands more council homes have been lost; capping benefits for housing costs at rates below the cost of even the cheapest private rented homes in our borough; and rolling out Help to Buy which has pushed house prices up even higher and benefited big developers most.  Furthermore, in 2022 under Liz Truss the Conservative Party’s mini budget crashed the economy, sending mortgages and private rents spiralling, and causing house building across our country to grind to a halt. 

 

3.  Council Assembly further notes:

 

a.  That for over a decade our borough has been leading the way in tackling the housing emergency, and that this has been the first priority of the council since 2010.

 

b.  Southwark Council is the largest builder of new council homes in the country with over 3,000 built or on site being built which is more than at any time since the 1970s. Southwark has:

 

  i.  secured more social rent homes than any other borough through the planning system since 2016.

  ii.  led the way in tackling rough sleeping, with over 130 people supported into long term homes.

  iii.  been a national trailblazer for homelessness prevention.

  iv.  some of the most robust affordable housing planning polices in the country, with over a third of homes given planning permission since 2020 being affordable ones and over a quarter being social rent.

 

c.  And Southwark is delivering the equivalent of a new town on the Old Kent Road, with half the homes given planning consent being affordable ones. 

 

4.  Council Assembly further notes and welcomes:

 

a.  The publication of the interim report produced by England’s 20 largest council landlords focused on five solutions for the new Government to secure the future of England’s council housing.

 

b.  Led by Southwark Council, the cross-party group of council landlords warns that England’s council housing system is broken and its future in danger. The interim report finds that the current financial model and erratic national policy changes under recent Conservative and Liberal Democrat governments have squeezed councils’ budgets and sent costs soaring.

 

c.  That unless action is taken nationally, council landlords across the country with struggle to maintain their existing homes to the standards that our residents deserve let alone build the new council homes our communities need.

 

d.  The recommendations in the report include urgent action to restore lost income and unlock the capacity of councils to work with the Labour Government to deliver its commitments for new council homes across the country.

 

e.  The five solutions set out detailed and practical recommendations to the new government:

 

·  A new fair and sustainable HRA model – including an urgent £644 million one-off rescue injection, and long-term, certain rent and debt agreements

·  Reforms to unsustainable Right to Buy policies

·  Removing red tape on existing funding

·  A new, long-term Green & Decent Homes Programme

·  Urgent action to restart stalled building projects, avoiding the loss of construction sector capacity and a market downturn.

 

5.  Council Assembly also welcomes:

a.  A new Labour Government which, unlike governments over the last fourteen years, has put tackling the housing crisis centre stage, including commitments to deliver 1.5 million new homes, deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation, review the use of low quality Green Belt, strengthen planning obligations to ensure new developments provide more affordable homes, prioritise the building of new social rented homes and review the increased right-to-buy discounts and increase protections on newly-built social housing

 

b.  That within a week of the general election, the Labour Government has already taken action including announcing the restoration of mandatory housing targets, the reform of the National Planning Policy Framework and established a new taskforce to accelerate stalled housing sites, all to deliver much needed new homes.

 

6.  Council Assembly resolves:

 

a.  To support the new Labour Government in its ambitious plans to deliver much needed new homes, whilst always ensuring these are truly affordable for our residents.

 

b.  To work with the Government’s newly established taskforce and the Mayor of London to unlock and increase the pace of delivery of new council, social rent and intermediate homes across the borough.

 

c.  To ask Cabinet to bring forward and agree plans to:

 

  i.  Deliver the next phase of new council homes in Southwark, going beyond the 3,000 already completed or on site

  ii.  Deliver affordable key worker homes for nurses, social workers, teachers and other essential workers in our borough

  iii.  Establish community land trusts in Southwark, providing affordable homes to buy in perpetuity for people on lower incomes

  iv.  Continue to deliver more homes through the planning system, including more social rent and affordable homes

  v.  Invest over £200 million over the next two years in improving the quality of council homes in our borough

  vi.  Continue to improve the council’s repairs service, building on the progress over the last few years, working with the council’s resident led repairs improvement board

  vii.  Upgrade the councils heat networks so they are more reliable, affordable and sustainable, including expanding SELCHP to serve more council estates 

  viii.  Reduce rough sleeping in our borough

  ix.  Further enhance the council’s already strong affordable housing polices with thorough new Supplementary Planning guidance on affordable housing 

  x.  Work with partners in the borough including TfL, the NHS and faith organisations to identify land partnerships that can deliver more affordable homes 

  xi.  Enhance support for council tenants wishing to down size and free up a large home for a family in need.

  xii.  Continue to extend the licencing of private rented homes in Southwark and take robust action against rogue landlords.

 

d.  To continue to work in collaboration and on a cross party basis with the largest council landlords in England to make the case to Government for the reforms which will make our council homes safe, healthy, modern and sustainable and allow Southwark Council to deliver the thousands more council homes our borough needs.

 

At this point, it was moved, seconded and agreed to delay the guillotine for ten minutes.

 

Motion 2: Debate not Hate

 

This motion was considered prior to the guillotine having fallen. 

 

Councillor Catherine Rose moved the motion. Councillor Jason Ochere seconded the motion.

 

After debate (Councillor Irina von Wiese), the substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

 

1.  Southwark council notes that:

 

a.  The intimidation and abuse of councillors, in person or otherwise, undermines democracy; preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, deterring individuals from standing for election, and undermining public life in democratic processes.

 

b.  This council notes that increasing levels of toxicity in public and political discourse is having a detrimental impact on local democracy and that prevention, support and responses to abuse and intimidation of local politicians must improve to ensure councillors feel safe and able to continue representing their residents.

 

2.  Southwark council therefore commits to:

 

a.  Challenging the normalisation of abuse against councillors and officers and uphold exemplary standards of public and political debate in all it does.

 

b.  Signing up to the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in local communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the response to and support those in public life facing abuse and intimidation.

 

3.  Southwark council further commits to:

 

a.  Writing to the local Members of Parliament to ask them to support the campaign.

 

b.  Write to the Government to ask them to work with the LGA to develop and implement a plan to address abuse and intimidation of all politicians including councillors.

 

c.  Ensuring the council has a clear reporting mechanism, which councillors can use to monitor and record incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers.

 

d.  Regularly review the support available to councillors in relation to abuse and intimidation and councillor safety.

 

e.  Work with the local police to ensure there is a clear and joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors and their families and discuss the need to take a preventative approach that accounts for the specific risks that councillors face, as they do with other high-risk individuals, like MPs

 

f.  Take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of councillors and officers. 

 

Motion 3: Ending the Lower Road chaos

 

This motion was considered after the guillotine had fallen.

 

There was one amendment to the motion. 

 

Amendment C was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion as amended was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

1.  Council Assembly notes:

a.  That improving active travel infrastructure in Southwark is essential for combatting the climate emergency and increasing healthy transport options, with segregated cycle lanes being a key part of promoting safe cycling in our borough, helping to reduce our emissions, encourage a healthy and active population, and improve air quality

b.  That Rotherhithe has the most constrained road network in the borough: boxed in by the river and with lots of traffic going through to use the tunnel

c.  There is a huge amount of development ongoing in the Rotherhithe area which is adding stress to the road network: the Canada water master plan, the reprovision of the bus station, and works on the Blackwall tunnel

d.  When the Lower Road cycle lane opened, residents, businesses, the local Labour MP and the Rotherhithe Labour councillors raised a number of issues, including regarding safety

e.  That a public meeting was convened where the council and Transport for London listened to these concerns, and put forward a number of mitigating measures including re-marking all parking and loading restriction road markings, amending the phasing of the traffic lights to give as much “green time” to Lower Road southbound traffic as feasible, and painting the cycle track blue to provide a visual cue to all road users to improve safety

f.  That the council has further committed to a subsequent meeting in the autumn to assess the impact of these measures and to consider further ones as necessary.

 

2.  Council Assembly resolves that:

a.  The Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste should continue to work closely with local Labour councillors in Rotherhithe, the local Labour Member of Parliament, local residents, businesses, alongside council officers and representatives from TfL to monitor the situation and find further solutions as necessary

 

b.  The Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste should restate the invitation for local Liberal Democrat councillors to put forward their ideas to this collaborative process.